Fruits of Toil in the London Missionary Society

by Unknown

VIII.—THE SOUTH SEA MISSION.

The SOUTH SEA MISSION lies deep in the affection of the Society's friends. Seventy years have passed since the first missionaries were landed by the Duff on the Island of TAHITI. After long trial of patience, amid a most depraved and corrupt people, heathenism gave way, the gospel triumphed, and the Society Islands became Christian. In 1823 RAROTONGA was discovered, and the Hervey Islands, now containing one of the brightest groups of our Christian churches, were evangelized. In 1830, SAMOA received that gospel which has sanctified the gentle habits of its people, and produced in them a zeal in the extension of the church which none of their neighbours have excelled. In 1840 and onward, the efforts to evangelize the dark races of the NEW HEBRIDES were commenced and partly frustrated. In 1848, the LOYALTY GROUP received teachers, and in spite of priestly intolerance, have since been largely christianized.

QUEEN POMARE'S PALACE, TAHITI.

When TAHITI first fell under the French Protectorate, fears were entertained respecting the stability of its people. By God's blessing on the means of grace, they seem at the present time to be more spiritual and more firm in their attachment to the truth than ever. Several young pastors, trained in our Tahaa Institution, have been warmly welcomed among them, and their numbers are larger than for some years past:—

"The statistics of the year, as far as we can obtain them for Tahiti and Moorea, are as follow:—

Population	over 9000
Members of Protestant Churches	2800
Children in Protestant Schools	1260
Roman Catholic Congregation, Members and Scholars, Natives	700

"Hence we see the Roman Catholics cannot yet number in their schools, congregations, and churches altogether, in Tahiti and Moorea, more than one twelfth of the Native population as theirs. The other eleven-twelfths are nominally Protestant. Without reckoning the schools and congregations of the Protestants, the Church members alone of the Native Protestant Church are about four times as many as all the Roman Catholics in their schools, congregations, and churches together."

RAROTONGA.

In the Hervey Islands, in the midst of their desolation, the churches of RAROTONGA insisted on holding their usual Anniversary, and gave a larger contribution to the Society than in the year before. The SAMOAN MISSION continues to enjoy prosperity and peace; the Seminary at Malua flourishes; an extraordinary demand exists for the Scriptures, which every Christian seems resolved to make his own; the influence of the missionary diminishes the risk of social war; and the liberality of the churches still abounds. SAVAGE ISLAND, becoming more closely allied to the civilised world, through the influence of its beautiful cotton, begins to encounter the greater temptations to which a community of simple manners is by that contact exposed; and the first drunkard has been seen upon her shores. As truly as a pious lad on entering London life needs the daily support of a mother's counsel and a mother's prayers; so do these young communities, exposed to the vices and temptations of stronger nations, demand the help, the sympathy, and the prayers of the English churches from which their piety springs. In the LAGOON ISLANDS and in the LOYALTY GROUP the Word of Christ is winning many dark hearts; but in the latter the fanatic hatred of Romish priests continues to the stricken Christians of UEA that system of oppressive persecution against which they appealed long ago.

Of the SAMOAN MISSION a most pleasing account has recently been given by a writer in Blackwood's Magazine, which fully sustains the reports of its prosperity given by the missionaries:—

"We have said that the London Missionary Society has the spiritual care of the Samoan Islands. The first missionaries were established there about thirty years ago, but the group had been frequently visited by them previously to that date. With what zeal and devotedness these excellent men have laboured needs not here to be enlarged upon; and with respect to the success that has attended their labours, it is sufficient to say that all heathen and barbarous practices have been abolished, Christianity is firmly established, life and property are as secure as in England—nay, more so, as theft is almost unknown—the morals of the people have been greatly improved, a general system of education prevails, and the Bible is admirably translated and in the hands of every member of the community. The difficulties which the missionaries in Samoa had to contend with were certainly far less than in many other islands in these seas. Here were no bloodthirsty, ferocious cannibals, but a mild and gentle race, well disposed towards strangers, with no elaborate system of idolatry to overthrow; so that the Mission was established without difficulty, and the progress was rapid and continued. So apt and intelligent are this people, that Samoa very soon became a centre of missionary enterprise, sending forth trained Native Teachers to other islands, of whom we shall presently have occasion to speak.

"A short account of the mode in which the Mission work in Polynesia is carried on will be interesting, not only by reason of the success that has almost invariably attended it in the islands in which missionaries are located, but also on account of the widely-spread influence exercised throughout the South Seas by the agency of the Native Teachers."

Special mention has frequently been made of the great liberality of the SAMOAN churches. The Rev. GEORGE PRATT thus describes the energetic effort made last year to increase it:—

"In May I paid a visit to Mr. Drummond's district. Very much pleased I was to see the very great improvement amongst his people. At the May Meeting they made a great effort, and challenged Samoa to beat them. I accepted the challenge, reminding them how formerly our people beat theirs in a game of chance just when they made sure of victory. The report of this speech preceded me, and created a furore among my people. They determined to beat; the merchants raised the price of money fifty per cent.; the merchants refused money, or ran short; all in vain; every difficulty was surmounted; and when a most iniquitous discount for bills is deducted, there will still be hard on to £700 for the London Missionary Society."

The Rev. A.W. MURRAY informs the Directors that the contributions so gathered have been the largest of all. They have amounted to the extraordinary sum of £2,236 18 s.:—

"Our contributions for the present year are not quite complete yet. What remains will be inconsiderable. The full amount will appear in my annual statement of accounts. What has come to hand from the different stations, including our own, amounts to the unprecedented sum of Two thousand, two hundred, and thirty-six pounds, eighteen shillings. May I add a word of caution with reference to the amount raised by our people this year. It will be wise, I think, for all of us to say very little about it, inasmuch as the present year will certainly be an exceptional one."

MISSION HOUSE, MANGAIA.

Nor are others of our Polynesian Converts behindhand. The Native Churches in Mangaia have also given generous gifts, of which the Rev. W.W. GILL speaks thus:—

"This sum (£217 7s. Od.) is considerably the largest contribution ever made by Mangaia to the funds of our Society; the reason is, that I have this year obtained a better price for the arrowroot. I feel deeply thankful that our people have steadily persevered in their offerings to God, notwithstanding the accumulated misfortunes produced by three hurricanes in two years, and their consequent poverty."

When it became clear from the letters received from the islands that the MISSIONARY SHIP was really lost, the Directors without delay devoted their attention to the question of securing a new one. Several important facts were clearly shown in the statements laid before them. Some six or eight small vessels are now running regularly between the chief groups of islands and Sydney: a few vessels also pass irregularly between the islands themselves, and can at times be chartered, or be employed to carry goods. So far, therefore, as mere goods are concerned, there is no great difficulty in supplying about twenty out of the twenty-seven missionaries of the Society who are labouring in the South Seas. But, besides supplying stores to their missionaries, the Society is carrying on most important evangelistic work in several small and isolated groups; as the Pearl Islands, the Penrhyns, the Ellice and Lagoon Islands, and in detached islands of the larger groups. These isolated spots require to be visited regularly, for the protection of the people, the encouragement of the teachers, and for the supply of new men, medicines, and books. The vessels that may be hired are not always available. They are often far from suitable to the work; they are very deficient in that amount of comfort which on public duty the missionary brethren ought to enjoy. Not seldom they wish to go where the missionary finds no work; to stay at some places when his work is finished; and to leave others when the work requires him to remain. Besides, evangelistic work is growing on our hands; the native churches are strong; labourers are abundant; the groups lying to the north and west are more open than ever; and the Directors are called upon to look fairly in the face a large extension of the South Sea Mission among three hundred islands, containing millions of people who are heathen still. All the objects desired through the entire range of the Society's interests and the Society's work, can with ease be secured by a vessel of our own, commanded by a truly missionary captain, officers, and crew.

With considerations like these before them, the Directors were unanimous in resolving that another MISSIONARY SHIP should be provided without delay. They had clear evidence that the ship should be smaller than the last. They were urged also on every hand to keep the ship between the islands and Sydney, and to recall her to England only at long intervals. Accordingly, another vessel, the third bearing the name of the John Williams, has been launched, fitted out and despatched to the Islands. Amid the busy work of the past two years, no single matter has occupied a larger share of the Directors' attention and care than the building and equipment of this vessel. She is a beautiful barque of 186 tons register; she went to sea well equipped in every respect, and specially provided with certain fittings that will conduce to the comfort of the missionaries and their families. The Directors placed on board an excellent library, a large Atlas of the best maps, illustrative of the South Seas and the Australian colonies; also a quadrant and barometer for general use; and it only remained to supply the library with a set of the different Polynesian Scriptures.

"Heaven speed the canvas gallantly unfurled,
To furnish and accommodate a world.
Soft airs and gentle heavings of the wave
Attend the ship whose errand is to save,
Which flies, obedient to her Lord's commands,
A herald of God's love to pagan lands."

THE "JOHN WILLIAMS."

Rare in the world are those scenes of enchanting beauty, which the islands of Polynesia so frequently display. Yet nowhere did heathenism descend to deeper degradation; nowhere did it develop blacker vices and commit more hellish crimes. Incessant war, merciless cruelty, infanticide, indescribable vice, in many places cannibalism, made the strong races a ceaseless terror to each other and to the world outside them. Over millions of their brethren such heathenism and wickedness hold the same sway still. In all but Western Polynesia, the Gospel has swept this heathenism away. The four great Societies which have sent their brethren forth as messengers of mercy, have gathered into Christ's fold 300,000 people, of whom 50,000 are members of the Church. They have together expended on the process less than £1,200,000, a sum which now-a-days will only make a London railway, or furnish the Navy with six ironclads. Yet how wonderful the fruit of their toil! "The wolf dwells with the lamb; the leopard lies down with the kid." The destruction of life has been stayed. Beautiful as were these lands by nature, culture has rendered them more lovely still. Everywhere the white chapel and school have taken the place of the heathen marai. The trim cottage, which Christianity gave them, peeps everywhere from its nook of leaves. Land and people are Christian now. The victories of peace have taken the place of war. Resources have multiplied: wealth has begun to accumulate. Books, knowledge, order and law, rule these communities. Large churches have been gathered; schools flourish; good men and good women are numerous. Not a few have offered themselves as missionaries to heathen islands; and in zeal, self-sacrifice, and patient service have equalled the earnest men of other climes.

HOUSE OF THE REV. JOHN WILLIAMS, RAIATEA.

All over the southern groups of Polynesia, this is the work which missionaries have been doing. This is the influence which they have exercised, and these are the fruits of their devoted toil. It is not merely Admiral FITZROY, and Captain ERSKINE, and Admiral WILKES, who testify to the reality of such results; but to these Christian islands, where sailors were once afraid to land, hundreds of whalers run gladly every year to get the refreshment which their hard toil renders so grateful. From icebergs and boundless seas, and heavy gales of wind; from the exciting chase, the capture, the boiling down of their huge prey; and from all the filthy, weary work of whaling life, they now run north to New Zealand and Samoa, to Tahiti and Rarotonga; not only to refit their vessels and to replace their broken gear, but to buy fresh meat and vegetables and coffee; to get medicine for their sick; to revel in oranges, plantains and water-melons; to feast the eye on green mountains and cultured valleys; to walk among white cottages and flower gardens and groves of palms; to attend Sabbath services, and be reminded of their Christian training and their Christian homes. Where have unaided men, however wise, produced a moral change like this? With us the GOSPEL alone has done it, and to GOD we give all the praise.